Big Bertha, the Queen of the Sunburst Anthias

5Shares

Since Lemon spotlighted the Sunburst Anthias this morning with beautiful pictures of a new aquarium specimen, we thought this would be a good time to show you what Sunburst Anthias really look like when they approach adulthood. This ginormous Sunburst Anthias nicknamed Big Bertha aka BB has been in the care of Matt Wandell at the Steinhart Aquarium for nearly five years.

Big Bertha lives in a dedicated NPS reef aquarium with lots of other anthias and many azooxanthellate corals. In this system Matt installed an automatic feeder that dispenses fresh food all day long, leading Big Bertha to eat more than her fair share of the food and growing to this epic size, which is actually approaching the five inch, 13cm maximum size that is reported for Serranocirrhitus latus in the wild.

When you see an adult Sunburst Anthias this large and mature it really makes you wonder where all the jumbo ones are hiding out in the wild, and why haven’t we seen more stupendous Sunbursts like this in aquariums. Perhaps all we need is to give some Sunburst Anthias more TLC, feed them more, keep them in more fish-only tanks so we can see them grow and develop into the brilliant pink and yellow specimens whose colors rival those of the Borbonius anthias. Big Bertha might be one of a kind but this is one rare fish that you all have a chance to grow yourself.